Eskom names interim CEO

Eskom said on Friday that it had appointed Calib Cassim as its interim chief executive, after André de Ruyter left the company.

Cassim had been serving as Eskom’s chief financial officer and will lead the Eskom management team until further notice, Eskom said in a statement.

On Wednesday, Eskom’s board of directors asked De Ruyter to leave his position immediately after he claimed in an interview with e.tv that the governing party was corrupt.

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has rejected De Ruyter’s corruption claims.

Government said on Thursday that there would not be a leadership vacuum at Eskom, a day after the company’s board asked D Ruyter to leave.

The fallout at Eskom comes as the struggling utility is unable to supply enough power to keep the lights on, plunging the country into its worst-ever power crisis for months, with rolling blackouts of up to 10 hours a day.

De Ruyter had resigned in December saying a lack of political support had made his position “untenable”, and served his notice period until the end of March.

In a statement on Thursday, government said executives at state-owned corporations should raise grievances through “formal channels”.

“Government also noted public comments on social media and that De Ruyter’s exit from Eskom is linked to an interview that he had earlier this week,” it said, without denying or confirming if his exit was linked to the interview.

A cancer

In the interview, De Ruyter said the corruption at Eskom was like a cancer which “has just metastasised and grown over the body of the whole organisation”. Asked by the interviewer whether Eskom was a “feeding trough” for the ruling party, de Ruyter said “the evidence suggests that it is”, but did not provide any evidence.

De Ruyter, who took up the top job at the utility three years ago, also alluded to a senior politician in the ruling ANC who was aware of the corruption without providing names.

De Ruyter could not be reached for comment.

The ANC’s Fikile Mbalula rejected De Ruyter’s corruption claims and said de Ruyter was “a failure” as CEO for his inability to revamp Eskom. “The ANC does not support corruption. The ANC is not corrupt,” he told a news conference.

Separately, ANC spokesman Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said that De Ruyter should, as required by law, have reported the crime he alleges. “If not, he will himself be eligible for arrest due to unlawful concealment of a crime,” Bhengu-Motsiri said.

The opposition Democratic Alliance, however, has lodged a legal application requesting Eskom’s management to publicise the name of the “high-level politician” De Ruyter alluded to have been involved in corruption.

Khaya Magaxa, the chair of parliament’s portfolio committee on public enterprises, said the committee has a constitutional responsibility of oversight over Eskom and “we can’t ignore those serious allegations”.

Finance minister Enoch Godongwana on Wednesday announced plans to take on 60% of the utility’s R423-billion debt over the next three years to help strengthen its balance sheet.  — Carien du Plessis and Anait Miridzhanian, (c) 2023 Reuters

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